The Benefits Of Agricultural Biotechnology

Agricultural biotechnology is any technique in which living organisms, or parts of organisms are altered to make or modify agricultural products, to improve crops, or develop microbes for specific uses in agricultural processes. Simply put, when the tools of biotechnology are applied to agriculture, it is termed as "agricultural biotechnology". Genetic engineering is also a part of agricultural biotechnology in today's world. It is now possible to carry out genetic manipulation and transformation on almost all plant species, including all the world's major crops.

Plant transformation is one of the tools involved in agricultural biotechnology, in which genes are inserted into the genetic structure or genome of plants. The two most common methods of plant transformation are Agrobacterium Transformation - methods that use the naturally occurring bacterium; and Biolistic Transformation - involving the use of mechanical means. Using any of these methods the preferred gene is inserted into a plant genome and traditional breeding method followed to transfer the new trait into different varieties of crops.

Production of food crops has become much cheaper and convenient with the introduction of agricultural biotechnology. Specific herbicide tolerant crops have been engineered which makes weed control manageable and more efficient. Pest control has also become more reliable and effective, eliminating the need for synthetic pesticides as crops resistant to certain diseases and insect pests have also been engineered. Phytoremediation is the process in which plants detoxify pollutants in the soil, or absorb and accumulate polluting substances out of the soil. Several crops have now been genetically engineered for this purpose for safe harvest and disposal, and improvement of soil quality.

According to the USDA (United States Department of Agriculture)'s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS), in reference to a section specific to the major biotechnology derived field crops, out of the whole crop plantings in the United States in 2004, biotechnology plantings accounted for about 46 percent for corn, 76 percent for cotton, and 85 percent for soybeans.

Modern agricultural biotechnology has now become a very well-developed science. The use of synthetic pesticides that may be harmful to man, and pollute groundwater and the environment, has been significantly lessened with the introduction of genetically engineered insect-resistant cotton. Herbicide-tolerant soybeans and corn have also enabled the use of reduced-risk herbicides that break down more quickly in soil. These are nontoxic to plants or animals, and herbicide-tolerant crops help preserve topsoil from erosion since they thrive better in no-till or reduced tillage agriculture systems. Papayas resistant to the ringspot virus were also developed through genetic engineering, which saved the U.S. papaya industry.

Agricultural biotechnology may also be helpful in improving and enhancing the nutritious quality of certain crops. For example, enhancing the levels of beta-carotene in canola, soybean, and corn improves oil compositions, and reduces vitamin A deficiencies in rice. There are also researches going on in the field of biotechnology to produce crops that will not be affected by harsh climates or environments and that will require less water, fertilizer, labor etc. This would greatly reduce the demands and pressures on land and wildlife.

Effects of Global Warming on Agriculture and Food Supply - Implication For the USA

For a long time it has been believed that the effects of global warming on agriculture and food supply is going to be a positive one. This is because the rising level of carbon-dioxide resulted for climate change will help the greeneries for photosynthesis.
Thus there will be a rise of agricultural production and food supply. The theorem received a boost after the evidence of a sharp rise of barley production as one of the effects of temperature increase in Iceland which was quite impossible even few years ago.
But more recent experiments and researches have revealed that the effects of hotter weather on agriculture and food supply are not that good after all. AN UNEP 2001 report on the subject predicted that USA is going to have more droughts, floods, landslides and storms.
Winter will gradually be shortened and sobered down, while summer will rise in expansion and severity. Along with this heavy rain, big storm, heavy snowfall, high sea level, increasing coastal erosion and other problems will occur.
Though as one of the effects of climate change, the overall food supply and production level is supposed to rise in USA, but the Great Plains will suffer with more droughts resulting for these modifications.
Even now many effects of temperature increase on agriculture and food supply have been perceived. The popular maple syrup production of North east USA has diminished by 10%, moving its production zone to farther north for shorter and warmer winter.
On the other hand as one of the effects of global warming the south west USA is suffering from a water shortage which will increase in coming days. The zone has become dry for any standard agricultural production with an apprehension of resettling Dust Bowl of 1930s' by the year 2030 for climate change.
Following a report of IPCC on the weather modification, California's snow covered Sierra Mountains can reduce in near future by up to 60-90%. This will create dire water shortage in summer, making the Central Valley area unsuitable for agricultural production. The State University of Colorado has declared that the area is going to be less productive due to effects of global warming on agriculture and food supply.
Other destructive expected effects include the food supply production in Florida which is going to suffer a lot due to frequent and large scale floods. Also one of the most profitable agricultural products of USA - corn will suffer a bad condition due to dry and hot atmosphere.
As another example of the effects of weather change on agriculture and food supply - with the rise of temperature by 3 to 11 degrees in this century, the production rate of the main crops - the rice, corn, wheat, barley, soybeans and sorghum - will be cut down by 3-5% for each point rise of temperature.
However with all these effects of heat increase on agriculture and food supply, new attempts have been made to adjust the agricultural and food production method according to the changing atmosphere. So to fight the effects of weather alteration, the researchers have established new methods of production with continuous revision of models. But still the best possible process to reduce the effects of global warming on agriculture and food supply is to be established.

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